Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Queensland State Government has not meaningfully engaged with the people of Brisbane, or with urban planning and architecture experts, on its plans for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games;

(b) urban planning and architecture experts are calling for an independent oversight committee and panel of architects and planners to help set a cohesive and coordinated framework and list of goals, as well as the establishment of a master plan; and

(c) the Brisbane 2032 Olympics Games are an opportunity to leave a lasting and positive impact for the regular people of Brisbane, not just deliver profits for property developers; and

(2) calls on the Commonwealth Government to work with the Queensland State Government and Brisbane City Council to:

(a) ensure genuinely affordable and public housing is delivered as part of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics legacy;

(b) undertake a review of the entire Brisbane public transport network; and

(c) meaningfully engage with the people of Brisbane and with urban planning and architecture experts for the construction of a master plan for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.

Incredible pole vaulting—that's what the Olympics should be about, not skyrocketing rents. Having a few drinks with mates and watching the gold-medal soccer match is what the Olympics should be about, not pushing house prices up even further and shutting more people out of the housing market. Taking your whole family to see Australia win gold in the Olympic swimming and it not breaking the bank is what the games should be about, not privatising huge chunks of inner-city land for developer profits. The Olympics should be about the people of Brisbane. They should be about us not about money or profits.

But right now Labor and the Liberals are doing just that—delivering an Olympics that'll make enormous profits for developers and wealthy property investors at the expense of the rest of us. The Queensland government has already sold off huge chunks of prime inner-city land, abolished social-housing requirements and reduced our public parkland. Every second property investor mag is talking about how the Olympics will drive up house prices. What I'm calling for is an Olympics for the people—a games that you can afford, that Brisbane can afford—not a bonanza for the megawealthy.

Brisbane, we deserve an opportunity to dream big. The Brisbane Olympic Games should be our opportunity to imagine a better city for all of us. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape our city—a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver a world-class public-transport system, to build public and affordable housing for our growing city and to provide more public parkland and better sporting facilities to shape the next generation of Olympians. Locals should be able to afford to attend these games, and locals should be the ones to enjoy the investment and the legacy that an Olympics can bring. That's the kind of vision the Olympics should provide for our city.

That is not happening. Right now locals are an afterthought. Wealthy property investors are already using the Olympics as an excuse to drive up house prices. Large parts of the city are being privatised, and events will be way too expensive for many families. Profits are being put before people. The Paris Olympics delivered 50 kilometres of new bike paths linking different parts of the city. The Montreal Olympics delivered 20 kilometres of new metro lines, growing the city's public transport system. The Barcelona Olympics delivered a significant rehabilitation of industrial areas and created beaches, leisure areas and a marina for the people. There's no reason why Brisbane couldn't aim even higher. That's why I'm co-hosting the Olympics for the People Summit on 28 February 2026. This summit is our opportunity to come together and work out what locals, not the property industry, want the Brisbane Olympics to be. They need it to be a legacy.

We need to work out and discuss how we fight for that, to build a shared vision for Brisbane. That's what it's going to take: the community coming together to push back against the wholesale handover of public assets and opportunities to private capital—against the venality of the property industry. We already have a lasting example of what an historic, community campaign can win for Brisbane: South Bank. One of the ongoing legacies of Expo 88 is the beloved South Bank precinct. The original plan was to sell that entire site to developers for wall-to-wall high-rise development, instead of creating public parkland. The only reason South Bank exists as it does today—a remarkable, free, accessible public parkland and recreation area right in the centre of the city—is that the community came together to fight back against private development. The community has done it once and we can do it again.

The legacy of Expo 88 is one of the most iconic locations in Brisbane. What will our legacy for the Olympic Games be? Join me on 28 February, and let's build that vision together.

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